QuoteReplyTopic: Citizens with unknown virus held at specialized fe Posted: March 16 2017 at 7:39am

Citizens with unknown virus held at specialized fever hospitals: sources

Al-Masry Al-Youm

Several people are being held at Imbaba and Abbassiya specialized fever hospitals after contracting a virus that doctors are still unable to diagnose, medical sources said amid a media blackout on the part of the Health Ministry.

An informed source said a secret meeting was held at the ministry on Monday to discuss the issue. Further meetings are ongoing. The number of patients held at the hospitals does not exceed five cases, the source added.

A medical source inside Imbaba hospital said some of the infected have been isolated because, until the virus is identified, doctors in Egypt are unable to prescribe a suitable treatment.

Al-Masry Al-Youm toured the hospital, trying to reach out to these patients but the reporter was unable to enter the building where they are held.

Dr. Sherif Fam, head of the Imbaba specialized fever hospital, refused to give information about the patients, claiming he was busy. However, one of the doctors confirmed that about five patients are being held there.

Another doctor indicated that talks are ongoing with the ministry’s central laboratories to identify the virus.

Dr. Ashraf al-Atraby, head of the Health Ministry’s department for fevers, denied that anyone is being held at either of the hospitals. He suggested the reporter try to reach ministry spokesperson Khaled Megahed for comment, but he did not respond.

A citizen has died at Imbaba's specialized fever hospital after contracting an unknown virus that recently spread among several other Egyptians, who are also being held at this hospital and in Abbasseya, according to medical sources from the Imbaba hospital.

The sources added that the patient died two days ago without any announcement from the Health Ministry, which has yet to disclose any details about the matter.

The rest of the cases at the hospital are staying in the Intensive Care Unit; they are examined every now and then, fearing developments. Their symptoms are similar to influenza, including a severely sore throat, high temperature and vomiting, the sources added.

The hospital administration has tightened security measures at the entrance gates and prevented access to the media.

Ministry spokesperson Dr. Khaled Megahed was not available for comment, nor was any other ministry official, on the second consecutive day of this phenomenon.

Al-Masry Al-Youm had toured the hospital the previous day, trying to reach out to these patients but the reporter was unable to enter the building where they are held.

Informed sources said most of the patients are from the Imbaba district and that the symptoms started to show up around a week ago. They headed to the hospital, where they were diagnosed with pneumonia.

A secret meeting was reportedly held at the ministry on Monday to discuss the issue. Further meetings are ongoing. The number of patients held at the hospitals does not exceed five cases, source previously added.

A 48-year-old Egyptian man has died from the H5N1 strain of bird flu, the Health Ministry said on Saturday, the first victim of the virus this year.

The head of Fayoum Heath Directorate Hisham al-Shennawy said Saturday that the victim died while receiving treatment at Abbassia Hospital for Fevers in Cairo.

He added that the victim is a laborer from Tawfikia village near Sinnuris city. He had been earlier admitted to the city’s general hospital suffering from a high fever and flu symptoms.

The man was transferred to Fayoum Chest Diseases Hospital where medical samples were collected and sent to the central labs of the Health Ministry. Results showed that he was infected with bird flu, upon which he was transferred to Abbassia Hospital for Fevers where he died.

Samples from relatives and close family members of the deceased laborer are being examined to find out if any of them have been infected, Shennawy said in a statement.

The Directorate of Veterinary Medicine in the governorate found that the man was working in a duck farm with some birds that were infected. The infected birds have been killed, while health ones have been vaccined.

The highly pathogenic form of H5N1 bird flu first infected humans in 1997 in Hong Kong. It has since spread from Asia to Europe and Africa and has become entrenched in the poultry populations in some countries, causing millions of poultry infections and several hundred human deaths.

There have been 356 human cases of avian influenza A(H5N1) reported in Egypt between March 9, 2006 and September 30, 2016. Of those, 121 were fatal, resulting in a case–fatality rate of 34 percent, the World Health Organization (WHO) said last year.

A total of 10 cases were reported during the period from January 1, 2016 to September 30, 2016, leading to 4 deaths and giving a case–fatality rate of 40 percent for that period.

Several people are being held at Imbaba and Abbassiya specialized fever hospitals after contracting a virus that doctors are still unable to diagnose, medical sources said amid a media blackout on the part of the Health Ministry.

An informed source said a secret meeting was held at the ministry on Monday [13 Mar 2015] to discuss the issue. Further meetings are ongoing. The number of patients held at the hospitals does not exceed 5 cases, the source added.

A medical source inside Imbaba hospital said some of the infected have been isolated because until the virus is identified, doctors in Egypt are unable to prescribe a suitable treatment.

Al-Masry Al-Youm toured the hospital, trying to reach out to these patients, but the reporter was unable to enter the building where they are held.(Continue . . .)

This morning Arabic media, and social media, are alive with reports - and rampant speculation - over the cause of this outbreak, which is now reported to include 11 people, and the deaths of 3 children.

Typical of the reporting, is this (translated) story from http://www.baladynews.com/, which stresses the `contagious' natureof the illness.

Wrote: Reza AbdallaDr. Ahmed Emad El Din, Minister of Health and Population, said that the new virus that hit the 11 citizen Shubra Al Khaimah area, contagious virus and can infect anyone.

He said Imad al-Din, that the ministry received a report injured four people in February 28 last symptoms of a strange virus, Shubra Al Khaimah area, and were immediately detained Fever Hospital Imbaba, conducting many tests and medical examinations, but they did not produce any result, stressing the number of injured increased to 11 cases from the same family after visiting their relatives, which is confirming that the virus is contagious.

The Minister of Health, to the death of three children succumbed to this unknown virus, explaining that there are two left the hospital tomorrow going on their symptoms and book the rest in the hospitals, in addition to the use of nuclear medicine and the ministry in a bid to gain access to the virus.

Egypt's Ministry of Health, which in recent years has been slow to publicly comment on any disease outbreak (but particularly H5N1), posted the following (translated) statement overnight, which is more suggestive of a environmental toxin or food poisoning than a viral disease.

The Ministry of Health and Population injuring 11 people like symptoms of gastroenteritis and suspected poisoning, for two families linked by kinship and Mqamyin in independent houses in Shubra Al Khaimah Qaliubiya province.

Dr. Amr Qandil, head of preventive medicine sector and pointed out that immediately after reporting the first case of which is the old lady, 63, was booked Fever Hospital Imbaba, the Ministry of Health and Population, immediately formed a committee to investigate the field epidemiological and reported its findings that a number of the back of the onset of 11 people consisted symptoms in a sudden severe vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and increased severity of symptoms in some cases, especially among children and the elderly.

He added that all the infected cases hesitated to public hospitals and clinics and private to receive the necessary treatment, and died three cases, while 6 cases corresponded to a full recovery and came out better, and there are only two cases so far under treatment.

The "jellyfish" to carry the team to follow up the ministry's Preventive number of 17 people in contact Mounzlen, stressing not appear or discover any symptoms satisfactory to them, as was the work of finding and endemic neighboring homes for two houses was not detected any similar medical conditions.

Head of Preventive Medicine in Gaza and said he was taking several preventive measures, whether for people or for the two houses, referred to them to carry out tests laboratory for advanced viruses and potential bacteria can be the cause of the appearance of these symptoms, where it was the work of testing toxins and heavy metals cases, scanning the peaks of radioactive objects by a team of nuclear energy Commission, and finding work for insects and disease vectors, and monitoring and measuring air pollutants, and tests for all types of dry food, cooked and water from the houses referred to detect the presence of any bacteria or toxins nurse.

As has been the formation of a committee of Egyptian university professors in the field of public health, children, and toxins as well as experts from the Ministry of Health in the field of epidemiology, laboratories, fevers, where the Committee recommended to continue in the work of epidemiological investigation and take further laboratory and environmental testing in search of likely group to be the cause of the onset of symptoms Previous.

And The Ministry of Health and Population that these cases that have emerged are only linked by kinship and there is a final of any other cases in neighboring houses, or for people who have dealt with these cases in the workplace or in hospitals and the ministry are looking and investigating to find the cause behind these limited cases occurrence of two families .

She appealed to the Ministry of Health and Population and the media not to be deceived by rumors tendentious which would raise Azaar and confusion for citizens, and took proper data and information from sources at the Ministry of Health, For the benefit of the Egyptian citizen.

For now, these cases appear to be restricted to these two, linked, households. And the MOH is reporting that 6 have already recovered, and only two remain hospitalized.

A somewhat less alarming update than what is being reported by the media.

Still, since Egypt's MOH has been known to downplay disease outbreak reports in the past (seeMore Than One Way to `Contain An Outbreak’), we'll be watching for any signs this illness has spread beyond these two families and (hopefully) some definitive lab work that identifies the cause.

CAIRO: The nature of a virus that has killed three people in Upper Egypt remains unknown, the Health Ministry announced Wednesday.

“There is still no clear scientific reason or definition of the fatal disease or the mysterious virus that causes it. Its symptoms are similar to the fever but when the patients were given antibiotics, it did not work out,” health ministry spokesperson Khaled Megahed was quoted by Youm7 Wednesday.

An elderly woman in the village of Dashlout, 310 kilometers south of Cairo, died Wednesday raising the death toll caused by the unknown disease to three.

Megahed said the tap water in the villages of victims is “100 percent sound and safe to drink” ruling out it caused the deaths.

“In order to prevent a potential outspread of the virus, 62 cases suffering from the same symptoms in Dashlout and two other neighboring villages were detected and they are currently hospitalized,” Megahed said.

Blood test were carried out to the 60 patients are we wait for the results, he added.Recommend to friends

The three victims were initially believed to have died of food poisoningMahmoud Aziz , Thursday 23 Mar 2017

Head of the Egyptian health ministry's Preventive Medicine Department Amr Kandil said on Thursday that a number of recent deaths of unknown causes in Qalioubiya governorate where not the result of a virus.

On 15 March, the health ministry said that three people died of suspected food poisoning in the Nile Delta governorate of Qalioubiya.

On the same day, 11 people in Greater Cairo's Shobra district were admitted to fever hospitals after suffering from ailments doctors could not identify, according to local media reports.

The patients, who belong to two related families, were hospitalised for suspected food poisoning after displaying symptoms including intestinal inflammation, vomiting, severe diarrhoea and stomach ache, Kandil said.

Kandil stressed that medical examinations have not revealed any type of viral infection, adding that the results of tests for possible food poisoning are pending.

Food poisoning is not uncommon in Egypt, where basic public hygiene standards are poorly enforced.

This week, more than 3,300 students from eight schools were hospitalised for suspected food poisoning after eating school meals in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Sohag.

Earlier in March, around 200 students were diagnosed with food poisoning after eating meals at two schools in the southern governorate of Minya.

Days later, 14 students in Upper Egypt's Assiut suffered food poisoning, prompting the health ministry to order a halt on the distribution of school meals in the governorate until food safety tests could be carried out.

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot create polls in this forumYou can vote in polls in this forum